It’s no secret that kids are in love with the fictional characters they interact with. Bright colors, happy faces, eccentric outfits—there’s plenty to adore. And it’s because of this adoration for fun and witty characters that brands create brand icons or mascots in the first place. These icons create an amplified sense of entertainment, humanization and most of all…marketability.

Take Chester Cheetah, Captain Crunch or Ronald McDonald, for instance. Kids are constantly bombarded with images of these CPG and fast food icons at the supermarket, in advertisements, and even at school. In fact, we learned from the Produce Marketing Association during the 2014 Foodservice expo that kids see 5,500 ads for junk food on TV every day, yet only 100 for healthy foods (and that’s just TV!).

Fortunately for the produce industry, the Produce Marketing Association has joined forces with Michelle Obama and the folks at Sesame Street (cool, right?) to bring our fresh products our own adorable mascots with the Eat Brighter Campaign.

The Eat Brighter campaign not only advocates the consumption of fresh produce for young children, but is providing royalty-free access to Sesame Street characters for produce companies to market their products. Can you believe that? You’ll get royalty-free access to nine of the funniest, fluffiest, cutest and most colorful Sesame Street characters to start building a connection with children that fresh food is FUN. This idea is expressed via colorful packaging, playful writing and other kid-friendly advertising tactics (you can download their toolkit to learn more). Signing up is the first step towards access to these loveable characters.

(But really…how cute is this?)

You may be thinking, “If all produce companies have access to these characters, what would make it so special for my own brand?” Or, “Why would I jump on this bandwagon if my competitor is doing the same thing?”

Those are understandable concerns. Here’s how we look at it:

• Using fun characters like the Sesame Street gang creates an association between the color and excitement of the brand icons to the color and flavor of fresh produce.
• If national retailers start wanting Sesame Street-labeled produce in their stores, they’re going to want the brands that have experience with the Eat Brighter Campaign. Oppy, for instance, will already be showcasing certain products with the Eat Brighter campaign this very month!
• Consumer package goods often employ popular characters (fictional and real) on their packaging. Just imagine a scenario where instead of begging for a box of cookies because their favorite cartoon character is on the box, a child pleads for tomatoes because Elmo is on the package!

Think of the Eat Brighter campaign in the same way as national initiatives like Breast Cancer Awareness or Wounded Warriors Project. Multiple brands participate in and show their support for these campaigns, and that’s ok. The goal isn’t just to amplify your brand, but to amplify a purpose. And for us, that purpose is to encourage the consumption of fresh food and healthy lifestyles.

Though the campaign is very new, we’re excited to see how it plays out and will keep you in the loop as early adopters implement the creative strategies behind it! The Eat Brighter campaign is one step towards the connection between fresh and fun while also promoting our products and solidifying our seat at the food marketing table. The campaign may seem subtle, but as Cathy Burns (president of PMA) said during PMA Foodservice, sometimes it’s what you don’t say that makes a difference.